Awards

Featured Posts

Monday, May 26, 2008

Its been sometime that I started visiting Diva's blog and the visual onslaught of some of my favorite dishes out there has made me go back for more everytime. It's one such post that caught my eye or rather, woke up the sleeping gastronome. It was the Beauty and the Feast challenge. All it required to do was to pick a cosmetic/beauty product which had a food related name or ingredient and combining the flavors as best as one could come up with a dish inspired by it. This one required me to think and conjure up something different.

I immediately looked up my stock of guy products. Now some would argue that it would mean just a few, cos guys really don't have that many. But I spend quite a bit on myself and really have a decent collection of guy products but nothing that I could turn into a dish. Next was my wife's cabinet...and that took time. Finally, I zeroed in on the most unusual product ...her parfum and the vast bouquet of ingredients really presented a challenge. It had Mandarin, White Chocolate, Masala Tea (yes, masala chai ) and saffron. Now these varied ingredients posed a good challenge. It was going to be an uphill task to come up with something that had all of these. How would it taste ??? If it smelt good, it must taste good too. So here I was making something out of the ingredients used for Bvlgari Omnia Parfum...and rightfully I named it the Cheesecake Omnia. In simple terms it's Mandarin & White Chocolate Cheesecake with Masala Chai Sauce.

To be honest, when I started out in the morning, I really didn't feel like entering the kitchen. It was more like a day meant for lazing in the bed, watching a movie after the other. IPL had almost lost its charm after Delhi Daredevils failed to make the cut. Thankfully, Sachin is still there. I walked almost unwillingly to the kitchen and on the way put on my ipod and selected a random playlist and hey! it started belting out one amazing track after another. I felt ready to take on the kitchen. This creation of mine is as much a help from music as the challenge posed and the amazing family that shares my love for cheesecakes.It tasted heavenly and my son finished one whole tart. Most of them were hijacked by my better half, whatever I did lay my hands on, I enjoyed and silently patted myself. The Tea Sauce was a killer.Diva, this is officially my entry to the Beauty & The Feast Challenge. If time permits, more will follow.

Method:Make the short crust pastry1. Sieve the flour and salt together in a bowl.2. Add in the sugar (now traditionally sugar does not go into a short crust pastry...but I used it).3. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub lightly into the flour. Life the mixture as you do this to incorporate air. Keep doing until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.4. Stir in water (little) and knead to make a soft dough.5. Put it in a polythene bag and chill for 30 mins.6. Take it out and roll it out into the shape you desire or the mold that you have and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 deg for 18 mins.Note : I love this site. Tells you step by step on shortcrust pastry.

Make the Custard1. Beat the egg yolks with sugar on a double boiler till the mixture turns white and creamy.2. Slowly add in the milk continuing to whisk.3. Keep whisking till all ingredients combine and the mixture starts to thicken.4. Take it off fire.Note : Use the ready to make custard powder that you get in the market. I can't help it, I have been taught how to make it the traditional way...still cannot use the powder. My wife however, excels in using it ( Despite my sarcasm on the real way).

Make the Cheesecake1. Add in the cooled custard to the hung yogurt.2. Add in the mandarin pulp, melted white chocolate, Mandarine Liqueur and gelatin(soaked in warm water).3 Pour in the molds and keep in fridge.

Make the Sauce1. Make the masala tea, bu boiling water with all the spices and condiments added to it.2. When the water start starts to boil, add in the tea leaves, and let them infuse into the mix.3. Simmer for 10 mins. Take off flame.4. Pour the sugar in a saucepan and put on a medium flame.5. Once the sugar starts to caramelize, add in the butter. This will prevent the sugar from burning.6. Add in the Masala Tea and let it cook for 5 mins.7. After 5 minutes, stir the sauce and mix the caramelized sugar with the tea. Stir till sauce thickens a little bit. Add in the saffron.8. Take it off the flame and cool.

Serve the cheesecake on a bed of masala tea sauce and some dribbled over it, garnished with either white chocolate flakes or a small cube of it and some orange slices.

19
comments:

gaurav, it's been a long time since i enjoyed reading the story behind each food posts,even my own which kind of ends up being very generic most of the time.this brought a smile to my face! guy products rule. one of my mates uses so much hair wax he has about 7 pots of them stacked into a tower in his toilet.

i love that you've used masala tea and saffron together. it's such an exotic combination of ingredients in one fragrance. it's pretty amazing.

way to go, cheesecake omnia! it's one heck of a pud. lovely entry and thank you for participating. Grateful for your support. Will be looking forward to your sent entry in my inbox, I'll put this up in the roundup & keep you updated :)

Thnx a ton for your comments Diva...will have it in yr inbox by tonight sure:)Guys products rule...but I still use a lot of women products too ...have 4 packs of bodyshop tea tree oil face packs packed up...which even my spouse can't use. Everytime I put it on, my son thinks I'm green goblin :))The Cheesecake was killer;sadly photos had to be clicked in a hurry before the savage crowd of my wife and son attacked it. They are after me to make another one.

hhaah, gaurav unbelievable!...seriously how can you come up with entries like this!...I am not able to think normal entries for regular events and here you are with exotic dishes with beauty ingredients..amazing....excellent one!

Thanks all of you for the comments.Jayasree, thanks for the award.Swati keep me posted on how the tequila thing comes out :))Srivalli, even I cant think of routine things, its only these complex things tht fall into place.

Gaurav, thank you for stopping by my blog and congratulating me:) Even though I won, I think we all won - I really loved your entry too. I am sure Diva had a hard time picking the lucky 3:) I like your cheesecake recipe. Sounds inviting:) I just subscribed to your page to read more from you. Take care!

Hi gaurav,This is Alka,and a new comer to ur blog.I m in this blogosphere since so many months ,but this is first time i came across a food blog by a species(read man) found so rare in Indian kitchen except occasionallyNice work,gr8 writeupscheers